Thanks to the data provided by CDPR we can get a look into how the meta has evolved in the last season and that Skellige Warriors are back at getting the highest winrate on the pro ladder. We can’t 100% guarantee that it is going to be same case this season, however, by looking at the current matchups on ladder the play rate of Skellige has definitely gone up. This has convinced me into trying this faction out after a break, due to nerfs to Rage of the Sea, that hit this faction pretty hard, and Hunger decks being popular last season, which have a quite decent matchup against warriors. I have managed to build a deck list which is pretty similar to what used to be played. I am quite successful with the current state of the deck, with which I’ve managed to climb my MMR to 2650, for now. That is why I wanted to share some of my thoughts about the meta matchups and provide a deck guide.

The general game plan of Warriors hasn’t changed too much as their strength grows by getting into next rounds. You pretty much always, with some small exceptions, want to pass 1st round early, after setting up your graveyard for cards such as Hjalmar/War of Clans/ Harald an Craite. From my experience pushing hard round 1 only makes sense in the mirrors when having last say in round 3 is very important, which is quite unique in this meta. In most of the other matchups, first say has a lot of advantages, but mirrors, mainly because of quite reactive game plan of Skellige, are rewarding a person with last say. The big problem of Skellige Warriors is having blue coin and being at risk of losing on even in quite a big number of matchups. However, cards such as Raiding Fleet/Blood Eagle are providing a great way to avoid such a bad situation. This also gives you a lot of consistency which Skellige is famous for. Skellige can still probably stick with the title of the most consistent devotion faction. In round 2 the power of Skellige rises a lot and pretty often you can get a card up by just trading up on answering opponents engines when they are trying to bleed. Quite often in this meta it might be good to also play leader round 2 while getting bled, if it secures going a card up and giving you last say with a card such as Morkvarg, that gets a lot of value in current meta. Not many decks can matchup well against Skellige in a short round 3. Still, the power of cards such as Harald an Craite/Hemdall/Totem/Mork/Hjalmar is something to be worried about. Even with a card less, if the bleed went quite well for your opponent, you can still quite easily manage to win a short round 3 depending on how many resources you have managed to save. It feels like Skellige is almost never out of the game until the moment you can see a defeat screen.

Advantages

-A lot of removal which is quite relevant in this meta
-Great consistency
-Very powerful round 3
-Not hard to pilot
-Doesn’t play too much into tall removal

Disadvantages

-Pretty weak round 1
-Bad matchups against swarm and not revolving around engine deck